The Romancing Star

While Chow Yun Fat was basking in the success of the BETTER TOMORROW films, he shot this quickie romantic comedy for director Wong Jing. The film is a typical Hong Kong comedy of the era, starring a number of familiar faces during their usual shtick; how much you enjoy this will depend on how much you enjoy Chinese comedy with its occasional infantile, surrealist edge. Certainly a lot of the jokes and gags here are very local and may be missed by foreign viewers. Still, there's no denying the combined wattage of Chan, Fung and Tsang, and even Maggie Cheung isn't too annoying (for a change), so it's all lightweight fun.